| Between 1963 and 1970, three national commissions criticized the news media. Although these commissions were not created with journalism in mind, they significantly influenced the field. In the wake of reports by the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, and the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, the news media adopted codes of conduct, created news councils, and hired minorities. The commissions also influenced journalists' attitudes. Extensive discussions surrounded each commission as journalists assessed the reports and debated how, or whether, to act. At workshops and annual conventions, in newsletters and trade magazines, journalists considered questions of right and wrong and the purpose of their work. Those engaged in discussions included newsroom leaders and rank-and-file journalists, and it is no exaggeration to observe that many searched their souls.; Two overarching ideas oriented their searching: freedom and responsibility. The libertarian tradition, challenged in 1947 by the Hutchins Commission, remained strong two decades later, but it began to yield to voices---the Warren, Kerner, and Eisenhower commissions among others---urging journalists to view themselves as accountable to society. The result was an ethic of autonomy---essentially, reform from within. Staunchly independent but oriented toward the social good, autonomous journalists were self-disciplined, self-governing, and responsible in a positive sense---that is, seeking to explain, solve problems, or possibly even advocate. Previous assertions of journalistic autonomy---from the concept of the Fourth Estate to the reformist campaigns of the muckrakers---also had a social orientation. What distinguished the new ethic of autonomy from the old was a widespread and overt invocation of positive responsibility. This duty was explicitly enshrined in the codes of ethics that were written or revised in the early 1970s. It would be an exaggeration to argue that the Warren, Kerner, and Eisenhower commissions prompted all these developments, but it would be equally inaccurate to overlook their contributions. |
